The Family Tree
by TapestryClouds
Summary: One-shot Jane and the Dragon/Deltora Quest crossover. Jane learns something about her family that could help Dragon find out about his past. *COMPLETE*


**Disclaimer: **I neither own _Jane and the Dragon_ nor _Deltora Quest_. They are owned by Martin Baynton and Emily Rodda respectively.

**Author's note: **This is a one-shot. I haven't written a fic in ages, my last _Deltora Quest_ fanfic was written when I was only about 10 years old, and this is my first JatD fic. I also thought that the worlds of _Jane _and _Deltora Quest _have all the possibility in the universe of being one and the same, so if you thought so too I hope that you enjoy my fic =)

"You smell disgusting Jane," Dragon declared, "Like those whatchamacallits… umm… lavenders! That's it, you smell like lavenders!"

"At least I don't smell like you!" Jane snorted, "In any case, I can hardly spend the afternoon in the library with my parents smelling like dragon dung."

"The library? I thought you cannot enter it, being only a squire and all?"

Jane laughed. "My father is the Chamberlain silly, so he can enter it as he wishes!" She started walking towards the palace hall.

"Ohh must you spend the whole afternoon inside?" Dragon groaned.

"Yes Dragon. My father said it is very important. We shall be talking about my family tree, you see."

"Family tree? There's plenty of trees out here in the garden!"

Jane chuckled, patting Dragon's snout fondly. "I shall be back in time for supper. I'll see you soon, and do try to behave."

Dragon looked on miserably as Jane ran inside the palace. "Family," he mumbled. He never knew his family. He was born centuries ago, but he didn't know if he had siblings, nor could he remember what his parents looked like. No matter how far in the kingdom he sought for dragons of his kind, he never found one.

He knew from what Jane told him, however, that he was born long after the dark, starving days of his kingdom's history, after the time when the dragons woke from their enchanted sleep. Long after the kingdom's dragons destroyed the evil that was eating away their land.

So where did his family go?

Dragon took to the skies, his heart heavy.

"Family," he mumbled again.

* * *

Jane rounded a corner and skidded to a halt in the palace libraries, trying to catch her breath. With just a minute to spare, she was sure that her mother would not be pleased.

"Maggots!" She hissed as she walked through the library doors. "If only I didn't have to stop Prince Cuthbert from picking a hole through the tapestries. And run into Gunther in the hallway…"

Her parents had a single book open in front of them, waiting for her. She bowed respectfully to each of them, greeting them in turn.

"Mother. Father. Please forgive my lateness."

She saw the corner of her mother's mouth twitch, whether in amusement or annoyance she couldn't tell. She knew that her mother would have wanted her to stay as a lady in waiting. Yet how many times would she have to tell her that the quiet confines of the palace were not for one such as her? How many times would she have to explain that she would best serve her king as a knight, not as a lady?

Her green eyes flashed, and as if sensing what's going through her mind, her father softly bade her to sit down.

_Drats!_ She thought. _Got carried away again!_ With a mumbled apology she sat down across from her parents and waited patiently for what they had to say.

"Your mother and I have discussed this in length," her father started, "and we both think that it's time you knew more about our family."

"I already know about our family!" Jane interrupted without thinking. "I know about our strange cousins in the Plains, and our beautiful ancestors of the West –"

"Please Jane," Her mother held up a hand to silence her. Jane blushed and pressed her lips together, heartily wishing, and not for the last time, that she could keep a rein over her mouth. "Besides," her mother continued, "This history may also help your friend Dragon find out what happened to his family."

"Really?" Jane sat up eagerly. "How?"

Her father smiled at her warmly. He passed the open book to Jane, pointing to a vast family tree, so vast that the top branches were cut off from the page.

"You see, dear heart, this is my father's line. You might recognise some of the names: your aunts and uncles, and mine." Jane nodded, still not following how this could help Dragon. And then her father traced the line to his grandfather's grandfather, at the topmost branch of the tree, and saw a symbol next to his name that made her heart thud.

"Do you know what this symbol stands for Jane?"

Jane snatched the book and looked at it closely, her nose almost touching the page. "Is that… is that the symbol of the dragon?"

"Indeed," her father said. Then, leaning forward, he gently spoke. "Have you ever wondered why you have such startlingly green eyes? Or wondered why Dragon – and indeed Princess Lavinia too – feel most affiliated with you?"

Jane looked up from the page, across to her parents. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. She started to tremble. She was almost afraid of turning the page and opening the door to her past and, perhaps, Dragon's also.

Her father smiled and turned the page for her, to a bookmarked page near the beginning. He pointed to the lowermost branch, to his grandfather's grandfather. But names were also spread next to his name, and above. Familiar names, because Jane had seen them before. On shields. On paintings. The statues in the topiary.

And at the top of the tree were two names that were etched into the greatest legends of the country.

_King Lief. Queen Jasmine_.

"No!" Jane exclaimed, standing up, toppling the chair behind her. "This cannot be! This is madness!"

"But it is true," her father said gently. "You are related the royal family. You need not worry, however. We are so far removed that we do not have to concern ourselves with the throne, thank heavens for that!"

"No, no, no." Jane shook her head. "You misunderstand me. I mean, I do not want to rule the country, that is true. But… actually descending from the great heroes themselves? It is… it cannot be!"

"You must accept this Jane." Her mother said. "For only by accepting your past can you continue on with your future."

Jane tried to breathe normally. After a while she shook her head. "I- I'm sorry." She finally said. "It is hard to believe. This … comes as a great shock."

Her mother stood up and put an arm around her. "I'm sure it did, and we are very sorry for not telling you beforehand. But your father and I thought it best to let you grow up in as normal an environment as possible, in case you… used the knowledge against certain people."

Jane flushed in anger, and then quickly bowed her head. If she _had_ known that she was descended from one of the greatest monarchs, would she have used it to get what she wanted? She shuddered at the thought of herself being as selfish as the young Prince Cuthbert. Her heart sank at the thought of not being friends with Pepper, Jester, Smithy, and Rake. Low their ranks may be, but because she was raised as she was, her friendship with them was not tainted by condescension.

"Forgive me father, mother." She said. She righted the upturned chair and sat down once again. Her mother sat down beside her and pointed at Jasmine's name.

"You see this name? It is no wonder that you hate to be restricted. And where else could your fiery temper have come from?" Her mother slid her fingers down through the branches. Name after name, like golden fruit in a great tree. "Your great-grandfather's grandfather was the last in your line that had a close enough claim to the throne, which is why his name has the symbol of the dragon next to it. After that, the blood was already spread too thinly to warrant any claim to the throne."

_Blood is blood, no matter how thinly it is spread through the ages_.

A memory, like whispers from an ancient sea, reached Jane's mind. "There is something I do not understand," she said, "King Caradoc should be more closely tied to the Belt and to the dragons. And yet Dragon is my best friend and is more protective of me. He insults the King, no matter how much I reprimand him for doing so."

Her father chuckled. "It may be true that Dragon shows respect to his King in the strangest way imaginable, but the allegiance is there, as strong as it ever was. Should the kingdom be attacked once again, you will find that Dragon will be drawn by the need to protect the King and the Belt, as all the other dragons would have been."

_As all the other dragons would have been_.

Jane's eyes widened in shock, sitting up straight as she turned the book pages to the map of the kingdom. She suddenly remembered reading something from Sir Theodor's vast collection of books:

_Dragons are proud creatures that hold honour in the highest regards. It is a great evil for them to invade each other's territories._

_But we are surely in the territory of the Topaz!_ Jane thought feverishly as she stared at the map. _And it doesn't take a genius to realise that Dragon is of the Emerald tribe! So if the Topaz dragon allowed an Emerald dragon to reside within its borders it could only mean that the Topaz dragon is…_

Her mother took her trembling hand and pressed it, willing her to calm. "There is more, dear heart. After the reign of King Lief, and then Queen Anna in her turn, a terrible fate befell the Emerald dragon of the North."

"What happened?" Jane breathed.

"Nobody knows," her father shook his head sadly. "The Dread Gnomes and the Kin only remember a night filled with flashes of fire. As dragon eggs take over a century to hatch, at that time there was still only one dragon from each tribe that flew over our kingdom's skies."

_Honora._ The word flashed through Jane's mind out of nowhere, but she knew it must be the Emerald dragon's name. She burned to leap up and run outside, to tell Dragon that she had found another piece of the puzzle. But she knew she had to wait, to find out more…

"The Dread Gnomes quickly took up their bows and arrows and lifted them to the sky." Her father continued. "But it was a stormy night, and the dragon was flying higher than the clouds, fighting an enemy that none in Dread Mountain could see. They feared unleashing their arrows, in case they struck down the dragon by accident. All they could do was wait and pray that the dragon would be safe. The next day, the Dread Gnomes crept out of the mountains. It was still raining, but with the sounds of rainfall were the roars of a dragon in agony. "

Jane shuddered. In her mind the dragon in the story had her own beloved Dragon's face. Imagining the dragon in pain brought tears to the back of her eyes.

Her father's voice had dropped low, so low she had to lean over to hear it. "The Dread Gnomes were about to journey to see what they could do for the dragon, but only after a few moments of leaving, a dragon dull and grey as river stones shot out from the mountain top. Something was clutched in its terrible claws, and it was splattering blood everywhere. The Dread Gnomes and the Kin immediately understood that it was dying and knew that it must be journeying here."

_Of course!_ Jane thought. _The egg that Honora was clutching must have been Dragon. It knew that it was dying, and not wanting to risk it like the last Diamond dragon, it brought the egg here where it could be as close to the protection of the Belt as possible, disregarding the great dishonour of crossing over another dragon's borders!_

"The dragon, however, never arrived in the city." Her father muttered in sadness. Jane gasped and looked at her father.

"But the dragon must have lived, for Dragon's egg hatched!" She cried. And then she understood. "So the cave he lives in now must have been where the last Emerald dragon sheltered. No wonder it was so close to our borders."

Jane jumped up and started pacing. "The Emerald dragon knew that it was dying, and that it would never arrive in Del in time, nor see its baby grow. And so it scratched the runes upon Dragon's mountain, telling its story, perhaps even what attacked it! Then it set traps, making sure that even when it dies Dragon would still be protected somehow." Jane clenched her fists. "But it wasn't enough."

_Because some humans still came and snatched him to be traded like cattle_. Jane gritted her teeth.

"We fear that the runes tell more than the last Emerald dragon's ordeal," her father stood up and put a hand upon Jane's shoulder. "All of the other dragons of the tribes fell after that night. Something evil and powerful caused their demise, for even the dragon of the Diamond, in its youth, ceased to be seen. Something that King Lief, Queen Jasmine, and Captain Barda never would have dreamt of happening while the Belt remained whole."

A voice rose within Jane's mind. Hissing and taunting:

_I have many plans… Plans within plans_.

Jane shivered, shut her eyes, and shook her head. And then, a much clearer voice pierced through the evil sneer:

_Help my people, Jane! Save the kingdom!_

Her eyes snapped open. What did she hear? Whose voice did she hear?

As if from a haze, her mother's voice broke through her mind. "It is essential, Jane, that you and Dragon translate those runes so we may know what truly happened. Are you listening, Jane?" Her mother looked at her, concerned. "Are you well?"

But Jane wasn't listening anymore. She looked out the window, out towards a tower battlement where Dragon lay napping. She turned away from her parents and ran.

* * *

Dragon's eyes were glazed with sorrow after Jane told him the story. They were sitting over the edge of Dragon's cave, looking out over the kingdom.

"So that's how we were wiped out," Dragon said. "I really am the last dragon."

"That may not be true," Jane said as she threw her arms around him and rested her head upon his chest. She listened to Dragon's heartbeat.

"Let's face it Jane, the dragon slayers made short work of the dragons. Whether Sir Theodor's ancestors were working for the Shadowlord or not, it was simply pure luck that I escaped the same fate of the other dragons."

"But that's the thing! You escaped! What if the other dragons also hid their eggs before they died?"

Jane blinked, and suddenly she knew she must be right. She had seen the Belt many times before. Surely the gems wouldn't still be gleaming so brightly if the dragons were all destroyed?

"That's the reason why you haven't been able to find others of your kind! It is because you've been searching for fully grown dragons. But what if the dragons you should have been searching for were dragons of a smaller size? Dragon eggs, Dragon! Dragon eggs!"

Dragon blinked.

"You _are_ descended from the Emerald dragons of the mountains. There must be a reason why it is Honour that was first to hatch. We are honour-bound to find the other dragon eggs, to keep this kingdom safe!"

Dragon squirmed uncomfortably. "But what if you're wrong, Jane? What if this ends in heartbreak again, for me? Do you remember when I got that false dragon egg?" A bitter note crept in his voice.

Jane patted him. "Yes, I do remember well enough. But we have to try Dragon. Those runes in your cave spoke of the birth of a dragon." She drew a symbol in the dust. "But what if this rune doesn't just mean this mountain as home, but the entire kingdom? The rune for dragon was carved repeatedly in your cave, but there was always an additional rune with it." She excitedly drew another rune. "This rune we've never solved. But now that we have more information..." She looked up expectantly at Dragon.

Dragon laughed.

"You know, I'm not at all surprised that you were descended from the great King and Queen of the past," Dragon chuckled. "It seems their spirits have lived on in you. I see nothing of the legendary heroes in the current royal family!"

Jane slapped his arm. "And what would you know of the legendary heroes? You were born during the reign of their great-grandson!"

Dragon shrugged. "I just know. And anyway, they've already given up looking for the existence of the other dragons, even though they know the significance of my kind. The heroes of legend would never have allowed that. They would have searched high and low for signs of any dragons!"

Jane tilted her head in thought. What Dragon was saying was true, but…

"And _you_ should be the one wearing the Belt instead of Caradoc, or at least, instead of Prince Cuthbert!"

Jane gasped. "Dragon, that is treason!"

But Dragon simply yawned. "It is true though."

Jane shook her head. "Well then, you treasonous newt, take me back to the castle. We need to rest, for tomorrow we shall strive to finish translating the runes in your cave. And we must finish translating it as soon as possible, for the fate of the kingdom rests on our hands." She climbed upon Dragon's back and they soared out to the velvet night sky.

After a long silence Dragon cleared his throat. "Um… Jane? I—I would like to take my mother – or father's – name… if that's ok you know. But let's keep it to ourselves yeah? I wouldn't want it known to everyone."

Jane rubbed his forehead. "Of course, I'll keep my mouth sealed. Knight's promise."

Dragon heart swelled. He whispered a word to the wind.

_Honora._

_The End_


End file.
